Quote Originally Posted by Doug Lampert View Post
In that case it's times INFINITY, because you get a feat every third level by normal progression, and that says you shouldn't get one at level 1. Level 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18,... follows a consistent pattern. Level 1 BREAKS that pattern, it breaks it by giving you EXACTLY what you'd get by level 4 in the normal pattern. That is, you have one feat and are 2 levels away from your second.
And what's wrong with starting with some ability? Normal people know how to do things that other normal people don't. That's skill points and a feat.

So you're insisting on infinitely better again? But that's STILL WRONG, you get half a point of save bonus per class level. How many levels do you need at that rate to have a +2 and get another +1 next level? Five.
They start at +2 because, for example, somebody whose background is in fighting will be better at dodging area of effect attacks than somebody whose background is in the clergy. Adult humans have a background, and that provides them with some abilities beyond "can walk and talk".

Level 0 spells are a full level, and you get them ALL in your spellbook for free.
0-level spells are designed to be very weak, minor abilities any caster learns during his apprenticeship/early dabbling with magic, "character level 0", so to speak.

No, your objections are based on "but this is the way it is" to a proposal about "this is the way it SHOULD BE". By your method of counting level 1 is INFINITELY better than every other level, because you ignore fractional accounting for things. You arbitrarily declare level 0 spells to not be a level of spells, you appeal to a houserule.
The objections I see are not to your proposal "this is how it should be" but to your incorrect facts regarding the existing rules. These objections are followed up by a rationale for how it is and why it should not be how you suggest it should be.

You don't think front-loading abilities MIGHT, just MIGHT have SOMETHING to do with the fact that characters start at level 1?

Front-loading is a DIRECT CONSEQUENCE of starting at one. You can fix this by starting at a higher level, by not allowing multiclassing, or by having a completely separate class writeup for people who multiclass in.
...as opposed to starting where? Level six? It's called level six because it comes sixth. If we started at level six by default, that would basically be a super-duper-frontloaded level one with more abilities, and then level seven would be even weaker by comparison than you're claiming the existing level two is to the existing level one. How is that better?

One of these is better than the others.
This is purely opinion. Don't assert it as fact, say, "In my opinion..." or "I think that..." or "I like this way better because...".